Ireland’s golden generation combine for magical performance against England

Thanks to Tim Murtagh and Co, they will talk of this session with plenty of reverence in half a century and beyond

Adam Collins
Lord's
Wednesday 24 July 2019 20:47 BST
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England batsman Rory Burns looks ahead to Ireland test and Ashes series

Jason Roy: c Paul Stirling b Tim Murtagh 5. England 8-1

There is a reasonable argument that Ireland would not be anywhere as a serious cricketing nation without the service of Ed Joyce. But it is irrefutably the case that Tim Murtagh could not be at Lord’s this week without the influence of Irish cricket’s favourite son. In 2011, it was Joyce who realised that the South London seamer’s surname sounded like it might be from across the sea somewhere. He was right. At 31, they had themselves a recruit.

It was only right that now-retired Joyce was asked to ring the MCC’s bell to signal the start of his country’s inaugural Test at the venue. It was at Middlesex in 1999 where he became the first Irishman in three decades to turn out in the county championship and it was thanks to Joyce that World Cup qualification was possible in 2007 – the tournament that changed everything. It was also apt that Murtagh, who turns 38 next week, had the new Dukes in his hand with 291 wickets his name at his home ground – more than anyone this century.

“There will be a few guys without much experience desperate to cement their place and there’ll be so much scrutiny,” forecast Murtagh in April. “We have got to play on that. We have got nothing to lose.” The slips might have been closer than for any opening bowler in modern memory up the slope, but the speed gun didn’t matter. In the most Murtagh way imaginable, an edge floated glacially to the hands of Paul Stirling, another of the Irish Middlesex cabal. He was playing with what he has with nothing to lose. As usual, he was in the book early.

Joe Denly: lbw b Mark Adair 23. England 36/2

“There is one amendment to the scorecard that you may have bought on the way in,” the ground announcer told the Lord’s loyalists after team sheets were exchanged at the toss. “Mark Adair is in for Ireland and will be making his Test debut.” Uncapped and uncontracted, the former Warwickshire quick from Northern Ireland pinned Jason Roy in his first over. At least that would have been the case had his foot been behind the line.

But instead of losing his way on a day expected to burn the pale skin of the tourists, he snuck past the inside edge of Joe Denly, thudding into his back pad. Here was a man on nothing more than match payments, written off as not good enough for county cricket before Ireland had been admitted to the top table. Making a mark on the first morning of a Lord’s Test? The stuff of fanstasy.

Rory Burns: c Gary Wilson b Tim Murtagh 6. 36/3

Murtagh knows what it’s like to be on one but he also knows the despair of missing out. An England rep at underage level, he was never a sniff of earning a senior opportunity for his country or birth – forever a yard or more too slow. From Surrey to Middlesex went the familiar ride on the county scene before Joyce sniffed him out. But 74 games for Ireland didn’t include a World Cup, cruelled by injury before the 2015 tournament.

After sending down the first ball for Ireland in a Test last May at Malahide against Pakistan, he was nearly the hero on the final morning when racing through their top order. An unexpected half-century in his second Test was also too late to matter after a batting collapse. This time, on a hard but green track he knows better than anyone, every moment mattered. He wasn’t going to miss one.

Joe Root: lbw b Mark Adair 2. 42/4

An England captain sent on his way by an Irish quick at the most establishment of establishment grounds. They aren’t words that could have imagined a generation or two ago when the politics of these countries off the field were so fragmented and violent. Sure, the GAA ban on cricket ended by 1970 but the legacy remained – the sport marginalised from the most popular in the land 100 years earlier to just going during the time of The Troubles.

That an All-Ireland team always took the field in the game – much like netball and rugby – helped mitigate this to an extent, but cricket’s place was a complex one; ‘West Brits’ went the sledge for kids of Joyce’s generation, who hid their cricket bats when travelling. Now, there could not be anything more normal as the sport thrives and grows in modern Ireland.

Tim Murtagh celebrates with teammates after dismissing Jason Roy

Jonny Bairstow: b Tim Murtagh 0. 42/5

William Porterfield and Kevin O’Brien have turned out in national colours 420 times between them and know how to hold their nerve. There have been many brilliant starts on the first morning of a Test that have just as quickly tailed off. But these two weren’t going to oversee anything like that. They weren’t going to be pushed around by Jonny Bairstow, who was visibly agitated and spoiling for the sort of stoush that so often brings out his best.

The two know the contours of this ground well, not just from service on country staffs but due to long days on the ground staff as members of the MCC Young Cricketers program. Both were present for the Sabina Park miracle win over Pakistan at the 2007 World Cup. Four years on, Porterfield the captain and O’Brien the matchwinner with an audacious century when stunning England at Bangalore. By the time Bairstow was castled by Murtagh, with O’Brien under his nose, it was clear: Ireland’s golden generation were combining for one last magical performance.

Chris Woakes: lbw b Tim Murtagh 42/6

“Have you heard about the Irish and the cricket they do play? / How they went and beat West Indies in the matter of a day / They bowled them, caught them and skinned them near alive / And glory be, they skittled them out for only 25.”

Dougie Goodwin knows about collapses. Against Ireland that day at Sion Mills in July 1969, the captain’s right-arm seamers earned him the absurd analysis of 12.3-8-6-5. It doesn’t matter what time the West Indies world-beaters were out until the night before, they had bowled them for 25. Goodwin finished with match figures of 7/7, including Clive Lloyd.

“People who would never say hello to me down the pub said, ‘That wasn’t you?’” he said this year when asked if he still dines out on that day. “It was sensational.” As was this. Fifty years and three weeks on, Ireland had taken five wickets in 19 balls. Their four World Cup champions had added eight runs between them. Lord’s was Sion Mills all over again.

Moeen Ali: c Gary Wilson b Tim Murtagh 0. 43/7

Ten days ago, the defining image of the final wicket of the most famous one-dayer that ever was and ever will be was Jos Buttler leaping with his left glove in the air. When snaffling Murtagh’s fifth wicket, wicketkeeper Gary Wilson – another mainstay schooled on the county circuit – did the same. It was 12:18pm and the Lambeth lad had only gotten himself onto the honours board. CricViz reported he had pitched 69 per cent of his deliveries on what they identify as both a good line and length, double the average for Test bowlers.

Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland’s chief executive, was visibly stunned as Murtagh took his applause. When he first sat in that chair in 2006 the organisation had two paid staff and no paid players. Under him, an entirely Irish cricket industry has flourished. Larry the Leprechaun, the team’s (Australian) mascot who followed the team everywhere since 2007 before retiring last year, was in every TV shot. It was a day for the true believers.

Stuart Broad: c Gary Wilson b Boyd Rankin 3. 58/8

He was a fast bowler reduced to nothing. At Sydney in 2014, Boyd Rankin said yes to a Test debut for England when his body was urging him not to. Australia had their way with him to the tune of 81 runs in 13 overs with the ball, the last of the 100 wickets the hosts took through their rampaging whitewash of that Ashes. The Irish import never returned, soon returning back to where his career first flourished in a green shirt through that 2007 World Cup.

Five years on, there is every chance this will be the final time he plays for Ireland, now 35. For a time the scariest bowler in county cricket, he’s not that anymore. But he stands 6 feet 7 inches. He’s also still fresh in the mind of Stuart Broad, who wanted nothing to do with him. At the very end of a long and volatile career, you better believe Uptown Boyd is still standing.

A general view of Lord’s on another sweltering London day

Sam Curran: c James McCollom b Boyd Rankin 18. 67/9

Eoin Morgan wasn’t going to miss today. He said before the season that he would be there watching his friends from both teams and true to his word, there he was in the ECB’s box, relaxed as one should be in his new position. He was there at Jamaica in 2007 too, of course. It might have been a while, but it is his still his generation who earned their way onto this stage. The world champion skipper spoke of the luck of the Irish (and the power of Allah) after their triumph, eloquently illustrating the diversity of the side he oversees. The only luck that Ireland received in this innings was when James McCollom had a catch clipped to him at short midwicket.

For this young man of the new class, graduating to the senior side just this year, he will be the link to the magical day at Lord’s as Porterfield, O’Brien and Rankin were today from 2007. He will never play county cricket, Irish internationals as of 2020 excluded as a result of their full-member status, but this isn’t a concern. In keeping with the vision of Deutrom and co, his career will be one defined by his experiences in Ireland, not outside of it. He can tell those who come next of his small part on the day they reduced England to this.

Olly Stone: b Mark Adair 19. 85 all-out

“One of the great spells of Test Match bowling we’ve ever seen at Lord’s,” said Mike Atherton without a touch of exaggeration as Murtagh led them off, ready to tuck into the Lord’s lunch – job done. Porterfield has captained this side with distinction since 2008 and knew it was Adair that he should bring back, who rewarded him four balls into the spell. 23.4 overs is all it took, some 11 balls faster than the heroes of Sion Mills half a century ago. Thanks to Murtagh and co, they will talk of this session with that same reverence in half a century more.

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